Since the day I received the pension application of my paternal greatgrandfather John Ulrich stating he had contracted lung fever while stationed at Camp Chase, this POW camp has held us enthralled and frustrated at our lack of information. What we do know is that Private Ulrich was there at the same time as Lt. Theodore Smith , French's Artillery , captured at Ft. Donelson and then brought to CC & JI. Theodore is my maternal ggg grandfather and French's Artillery was raised by my gggg grandfather Napoleon Bonaparte French, Mercer County, VA [WV]. You may be sure our family -- or at least those of us who are "weird for dead people"-- will follow your work closely!

My son discovered an old article in the Confederate Veterans' magazine describing the numerous letters from and to the prisoners that were now being offered to descendants {this was 1930s I think}. Among those listed were letters between Theo and wife Eliza Jane French Smith, but we have had no luck in hunting them down. Are the letters associated with this archeological study taken from that collection? I would be most interested in hearing from anyone who has knowledge of the general collection or even of specific letters, which might give us a clue as to how to find ours.

Most of all, thank you for this site! I am weird for dead people and archeology in general, so it's most exciting to see such a combination of interests here.